Snapchat just got much easier for brands

The big ghost announced this week it will introduce a new feature called “Memories” that will allow users to share stories or photos created outside of the app as well as easily save snaps created in the app. This is an interesting move for a platform that has always wanted user content to be “of the moment." For brands, this makes the platform much more accessible. While more brands are beginning to experiment with geo-filters, they have continued to struggle with live content for the Story feature of the app.

By giving users the ability to post photos and videos from their camera roll, the hindrance of real time snaps has been lifted for brands. All snaps that are uploaded from a previous time will be marked with a border and photos taken within the app and posted more than 24 hours later will have a time stamp on them.

As users start to curate more of their content it will be interesting to see what effect this has on the platform. Snapchat content isn't typically held to a high quality standard by its users (unlike Instagram, for example)-- it's more important to capture what is happening in the moment than to perfectly stage your dinner. But with the ability to take photo and video outside the app, this opens the content up to more staging and quality.

As the new feature rolls out over the next month, brands should still focus on creating real-time for the platform as the behind-the-scenes nature of the platform is still what users want to see, but lifting the restriction of only real-time content will open the platform up to brands that formerly didn’t have the bandwidth for that commitment.